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To encourage development of systems that help Veterans schedule appointments to receive care from the Veterans Health Administration and to reduce risks in the future procurement and deployment of those systems, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) announces a prize contest under Section 105 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2011, Public Law 111-358 (2011), 15 USC 3719 (the "Act").
The goal of this contest is to encourage creation of systems that help Veterans make appointments to receive outpatient and ambulatory care[1] from the Veterans Health Administration. VA also seeks to obtain information which will allow it to reduce the risks inherent in procurement and deployment of a replacement medical scheduling product.
[1] Scheduling of inpatient, surgical, and extended nursing care is excluded.
Contest overview:
- Registration until 12:00 noon EDT May 13, 2013. A contestant must register electronically via this website (see Rules). Eligible contestants' letter of registration letter is validated. Eligible contestants are granted access to the virtual testing environment.
- Submission of entry until 12:00 noon EDT June 13, 2013 Entries are submitted electronically as specified under Rules. Contestants, in order to be judged, will contribute the open APIs and any open source content in their entries to the Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent (OSEHRA).
- Judging
- Prizes awarded on or about September 30, 2013
VA uses the Medical Scheduling Package (MSP), a component in its VistA electronic health record (EHR) system, to bring patients, clinicians and other resources together so health care can be delivered. The MSP also captures data that allows VA to measure, manage and improve access to care, quality of care, operating efficiency and operating and capital resources. VA currently relies on the MSP to perform non-scheduling functions including workload data capture and a broad range of workload and other management reports.
VA intends to replace the current MSP with a scheduling product[1] which is a standards-based, modular, extensible and scalable, certified as compliant and fully interoperable with the production version of VistA now held by the Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent (OSEHRA), http://www.osehra.org/.
The replacement product must effectively perform VA's scheduling-centric and scheduling-related legacy business functions. It must also demonstrate it can meet non-functional requirements including integration with multiple instances of VistA.[2]
[1] As used in this notice, "product" means either a discrete software module which is installed on VA servers or a software service.
[2] The replacement product will, as a part of the overall VistA EHR, deliver privacy, security, data integrity, patient accessibility, interoperability and other services required by federal law, regulations and VA policy. Many of these services are delivered by other components of VistA.
The MSP is tightly integrated with VistA; it reads data from more than 130 other VistA applications and has read/write functionality with more than 30 additional applications.
VistA systems are localized at the hospital level and will remain so for at least the near-term future. Each hospital operates a separate instance of VistA. Portions of the VistA code are identical in each instance; different instances of VistA may have different interfaces between the MSP and other VistA applications.
Any replacement product must not negatively impact any current applications that interface with the MSP or its data.
Effect on Subsequent Procurement.
VA anticipates that compatibility with Open Source VistA will be among the requirements in any subsequent procurement of a replacement for the MSP. Demonstration of open source compatibility in this contest may be taken into consideration in the rating of proposals in any subsequent procurement.
OSEHRA's Role in the Contest
As the custodial agent for an open source community of VistA developers and users, OSEHRA plays a central role in the distribution and certification of VistA and VistA-related software. Members of the OSEHRA community, both individuals and organizations, may develop contest submissions, singly or in collaborative groups, and community members may choose to use OSEHRA facilities (such as code repositories or working groups) during the development process. OSEHRA staff members will perform the first phase of contest entry evaluation and will have no affiliation with any contest submission. No member of the OSEHRA staff will participate in any discussion, work, or project group where contest submissions are discussed.
Please read the full rules for eligibility.
Please read the full rules for submission requirements.
$3,050,000 in prizes
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
How to enter
Contestants may register for the contest until 12:00 noon EDT on May 13, 2013. Registered contestants must first send a letter (as an attachment through the challenge.gov website). The letter must attest that the potential entrant (and partner organizations/individuals) are eligible to participate in this contest per the requirements of the Federal Register Notice of Oct. 16, 2012, and the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2011.
Only registered contestants may submit entries. Entries are transmitted electronically as set forth in Section 5 of the Rules. Contest submissions will be accepted until 12:00 noon EDT on June 13, 2013. Contestants, in order to be judged, must first contribute their interfaces with VistA to OSEHRA (FR Notice CONTEST REQUIREMENTS AND RULES, 3. Basis on which a winner will be selected, 2.e. "Note: Entries that consist of proprietary code are not precluded, so long as interfaces with VistA use open APIs and the software implementing the interfaces in made available as open source"). Also see Sections 4 and 5 of the Rules for specific requirements.
Winners will be announced on or about September 30, 2013.
Department of Veterans Affairs
Judging Criteria
Entrants' test scripts and product demonstration
Open Source Compatibility
Non-Functional Requirements - Attachment C
Core Scheduling Requirements - Attachment A
Scheduling-related, VA-specific legacy requirements - Attachment B
Open Source Content
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The purpose of this article is to analyze the ways in which indigenous Guaycurú groups from the Argentine Chaco have constructed their relations with powerful non-human beings in the celestial space throughout time. This study is based centrally on
Search Results
The Chaco Skies
A Socio-cultural History of Power Relations
Alejandro Martín López and Agustina Altman
Religions, Histories, and Comparisons
Simon Coleman, Ruy Llera Blanes, and Sondra L. Hausner
among Guaycurú aboriginal groups in the Argentine Chaco. López and Altman very explicitly locate their analysis in the context of the socio-religious changes that have occurred in the area since the eighteenth century. As Stephan Palmié's tribute to J. D

subset: commoncrawl


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Freight Connections
Discover the latest stories of DHL's road freight and customs experts.


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NYT Sides With 'Health Provider' Planned Parenthood in 'Partisan' Komen Funding Cut-Off
New York Times reporters Gardiner Harris and Pam Belluck passed on the outrage of pro-choice groups to news that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, which fights breast cancer, is cutting financial support to Planned Parenthood in the wake of bad publicity and a congressional investigation. The Times reporters seemed pretty outraged about it themselves in Thursday's 'Uproar as Breast Cancer Group Ends Partnership With Planned Parenthood.'
The Times helped push the story with two pro-Planned Parenthood images; a ridiculous-looking posed shot of three pro-abortion activists in Richmond, Va., trying a Twitter campaign to boycott Komen, and an anti-Komen satirical liberal greeting already making the rounds on the left side of the web. While the reporters found "conservative women" that supported Komen's move, there was no liberal label for Planned Parenthood acolytes, who were merely "prominent women's groups, politicians and public health advocates."
Pink ribbons have for decades been a symbol of resolve and compassion in the face of the deadly disease of breast cancer. Now, that nearly ubiquitous icon has many women seeing red.
When the nation's largest breast cancer advocacy organization considered in October cutting off most of its financial support to the nation's largest abortion provider, the breast cancer group was hoping for a quiet end to an increasingly controversial partnership.
Instead, the organization, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, is now engulfed in a controversy that threatens to undermine one of the most successful advocacy campaigns. The foundation's decision to eliminate most of its grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening caused a cascade of criticism from prominent women's groups, politicians and public health advocates and a similarly strong outpouring of support from conservative women and religious groups that oppose abortion.
Now, leaders of both the Komen foundation and Planned Parenthood are accusing each other of bad faith and actions that undermine women. And two organizations dedicated to detecting and curing breast cancer have found themselves on opposite sides of the nation's divisive debate over abortion.
After an explanation that Planned Parenthood is the subject of a congressional investigation by Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns, the group morphed from an 'abortion provider' to a 'health services provider' within one paragraph, as Times reporters accused congress of conducting a "partisan investigation," while taking the group's word that "Only a small percentage of Planned Parenthood's expenditures go toward abortion services."
So the Komen board voted that all of its vendors and grantees must certify that they are not under investigation by federal, state or local authorities. But for Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, being the target of partisan investigations is part of doing business. So Komen's new rule effectively ended their long partnership and seemed to the health services provider an unacceptable betrayal of their common mission to save women's lives.
Dawn Laguens, an executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said that Komen's money had over the years underwritten breast cancer screenings for 170,000 women, some of whose lives were saved as a result. She said she had no sympathy for Komen's attempt to mollify donors by ending its relationship with a controversial provider of women's health services. Only a small percentage of Planned Parenthood's expenditures go toward abortion services.
Wait. The Times just identified Planned Parenthood as 'the nation's largest abortion provider.' Doesn't that render the percentage of expenditures talking point irrelevant?
Not until paragraph 18 of the 21 paragraph story does the Times locate a source happy with Komen's decision, and that's quickly balanced out with more liberal outrage.
Foes of abortion and Web sites critical of it have criticized the Komen foundation's financing of Planned Parenthood for years. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis and several bishops in Ohio issued statements last year raising concerns about donating to the Komen foundation. In December, LifeWay Christian Resources, which is owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, said it was recalling a pink Bible it was selling because a dollar per copy was going to the Komen foundation.
'We are very grateful Susan G. Komen for the Cure will no longer fund Planned Parenthood affiliates,' said Thom S. Rainer, president of LifeWay.
Pleas to boycott or defend Susan G. Komen for the Cure over its decision to pull money from Planned Parenthood poured onto Web sites like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr on Wednesday, as activists both amateur and professional urged action.
'Susan Komen would not give in to bullies or to fear,' Judy Blume, the children's book author, said in a Twitter post. 'Too bad the foundation bearing her name did.'


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Gloucester: 4 Arrests Over Alleged Child Exploitation
17 March 2014, 17:35 | Updated: 17 March 2014, 17:39
Gloucestershire Constabulary has visited two addresses in Gloucester related to an investigation into alleged child sexual exploitation.
A 22-year-old Gloucester man was arrested on suspicion of child trafficking, sexual assault of a child and sexual grooming of a child and a 45-year-old woman from Gloucester arrested on suspicion of child trafficking at the first address while a 19-year-old man from the city was arrested on suspicion of child trafficking and rape of a child at the second address.
A fourth person, a 20-year-old woman, was arrested this afternoon on suspicion of child trafficking.
They will remain in police custody while inquiries continue.
The offences are related to trafficking within and around the county and there are believed to be nine potential victims, aged between 14 and 17.
Sergeant Nigel Hatten, of the Child Sexual Exploitation Unit, said:
"We take any allegation of the sexual exploitation of children very seriously and we know this news will concern people. The Child Sexual Exploitation team has worked extremely hard together with partner agencies including the National Working Group Network– tackling sexual exploitation, to proactively pursue the concerns resulting in the arrests today.
Child sexual exploitation has been in the headlines a lot recently and people will wonder whether there is a serious issue in this county.
Sadly no area is immune but what I can say is that while one case is too many, it is not known to be widespread in Gloucestershire at this time.
I can reassure people specially trained officers from our child sexual exploitation team investigate each and every case thoroughly and with the help of our partner agencies support victims through the process. The victims of these offences are being updated and supported by specialist officers and our partner agencies.
We hope this case will make people more aware of the issue and would urge anyone with information about these type of offences to come forward and have confidence that they will be listened to."
Mike Hand, specialist team member of the National Working Group - Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation, said:
"We have been pleased to assist the Gloucestershire team to investigate this case and work alongside them to continually improve responses to children and young people sexually exploited, as always our support to ensure young people receive the best support possible is our main focus. We look forward to continuing our work with partners in Gloucestershire."


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Question: I own a business with my brother for the past 16 years. I decided to buy my partner/brother out of the business. The business has been running a loss for the past couple of years. How do we put a value on the business without incurring the expense of a Business Expert?
OK, stop immediately and rethink your question. Doing this deal "without incurring the expense of a business expert" is a really bad idea. The biggest danger in this deal isn't paying too much or too little, but rather doing a deal that leaves either one of you thinking it was unfair. If ever there was a good place to spend some money on an expert, this is it.
Why? Because there are so many different ways to calculate fair value, with so many different results, that without a very good expert and full understanding as you do the deal, somebody is sure to question it later.
Start by thinking about the value of a house. Its value depends on many different factors, including size, condition, the land it's on, the neighborhood, the needs of the owners, and changing market conditions such as interest rates and local economic factors. Valuing a business is like that but even more complex, because the underlying worth depends on future earnings, and both buyer and seller have to guess future earnings.
There are some simple standards to start with. Consider that large, publicly traded companies are worth some multiple of their annual earnings, traditionally 5 or 10 times earnings or so, but that depends on market conditions. The market values some high-tech growth companies at 50 times their earnings … that's the play of market factors. Investors like these companies so their relative value goes up.
- When you have a small, privately-owned company, the earnings multiples go way down. Generally buyers realize there is more risk in a small company than a big one. The increase in risk reduces the valuation.
- Another frequently-used formula is based on sales. Your company might be worth as little as half its last year's sales, as much as 2 or 3 times its last year's sales, depending on the specifics of what industry, how much growth, how much future potential, etc. This is more important than the earnings-based formulas for you, of course, because you don't have earnings. It's quite common with high-tech companies. As with real estate, you can get data on other transactions by industry and size, which could help give you some idea of the latest trends. The formulas change quickly as market conditions change. And although the data is called "comparables," just like in real estate, it's a lot harder to interpret because so much depends on the specific case. Growth increases your value, decline decreases it, and there are lots of intangibles related to the future, such as location, intellectual property, etc.
- There are lots of other formulas that might apply. Book value is assets less liabilities. Professionals might take book value and adjust for different factors.
- To make this even more confusing, there are valuation experts certified by the IRS who will assign a value used to determine tax liabilities when companies change hands because of death of divorce. Their valuation can go very low; I know of one case in which a company worth several million dollars was certified worth only a few hundred thousand, for tax purposes, by a registered valuation expert whose verdict was accepted by the IRS.
So getting back to your question, I recommend you and your brother find somebody you can both trust, either an accountant or an attorney or maybe a consultant with great references — be more careful with consultants because there is much less regulation in consulting, therefore it's harder to determine true professionalism — and go over all of the various formulas, together, and understand how they might yield different results.
Your goal should be getting on the same page, together, in a way that protects you against the danger of doing a deal and then, afterwards, having some new expert coming up with some logically sounding new formula that makes one or the other of you think the deal was unfair. The key to fairness is to base the transaction on a true market value, a real market value, one which will leave neither one of you vulnerable to some half-baked expert opinion after the fact.
Don't get adversarial. This should not be about negotiation. Avoid having the two of you represented by two separate experts, each voicing a slanted point of view. Look for somebody you can charge with creating a fair deal, somebody who feels like he or she will be available for a pleasant lunch a year later, not taking sides. You should both be clients.
Keep in mind that the goal isn't winning or losing the deal, it's making this change fairly, so there are no losers, and probably (up to you) in a way that preserves the relationships.


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"BritaNews is a news/magazine theme that using CSS3 in finest ways. Build your layout with Drag and Drop content Builder. BritaNews comes with built in unlimited rating criteria in metabox. A combination between modern design and exquisite code. See the demo to view the impressive animations and transitions on every detail. It's responsive design ready to look great on any device."
All Features:
- White label
- Drag & drop page builder
- Retina ready
- 100% responsive (layout & video)
- Box & full width layout
- 10 colorschemes
- Translation ready
- Gorgeous CSS3 animation (Super smooth CSS3 animation effect)
- Smart Rating System (Animated Rating Bar)
- 600+ google fonts
- 3 in 1 content slider
- Theme options panel
- Embed ads into the post
- Smart code editor
- 12 columns grid system
- 8 different Homepages
- 4 different Blog loop layouts
- Masonry
- Grid
- Big Thumbnail
- Classic
- Sliding side menu in Mobile device
- Boxed and full width layout
- Included 18 seamless pattern background
- Font Awesome icon
- Newsticker
- Flickr Feeds
- Image Gallery with lightbox zoom effect
- Bonus: 23 HTML files
Image Resource (theme preview)
- Unsplash.com
- The Lost Man Project
- Fotuwe
- deathtothestockphoto
- vonderauvisuals
- IdEA Meet up 2013 Photo Gallery
Javascript Libraries:
- jQuery 2.0.3
- jQuery Easing v1.3
- jQuery EasyTabs plugin 3.2.0
- jQuery FitVids 1.0
- jQuery Flickr Plugin
- jQuery FlexSlider
- jQuery Images Loaded
- jQuery wookmark plugin
- jQuery Sidr Menu
- jQuery superfish menu
- jQuery Prettyphoto
- jQuery Cookie
Framework Used:
NOTE: All Images in Preview/Demo Site is for Demo Purpose Only, AND NOT included in the download file.
CHANGELOG ==Version 1.5.0== February 10, 2014 Added WooCommerce Compatibility Added Options to choose Custom Post Type as Blog List (in page builder) ==Version 1.4.0== December 19, 2013 Fixed: Glitch on all Design and layout elements on mobile devices. Fixed: "Glass blog" appearance is now looks better if you put it in 1/2 column. Fixed: Options for sticky menu (show or hide) is now works as well. Added: Full layout width for category/archive, author post loop layout. Added: Colorscheme on desktop will affect to adaptive layout too. Changed: Code editor in admin panel is now have full width. Changed: Newsticker animation is now using scroll effect. ==Version 1.3.0== December 17, 2013 Added: Unlimited Colorscheme Added: Adaptive Layout. Added this feature for best performance and speed on mobile devices. Added: Sticky Menu Added: Option to Show or Hide Breadcrumbs Added: Option to Show or Hide social share buttons (through theme options) Added: Loop Layout Settings (through theme options panel). Configure the category/archive and author loop page. Added: Now you can put page builder generated shortcode to category description (post » categories » the category). With this, you can customize each category with page builder content. Updated: Page Builder Plugin. The content It's now adaptive depends on which user agent. Fixed: Remove Blank Featured Image if It's not presented Fixed: Menu color in dark layout was dark. It's now light Fixed: Several minor code bugs ==Version 1.2.0== December 12, 2013 Added: Options to Hide or Show News Ticker Added: Dark Layout ==Version 1.1.0== December 9, 2013 Fixed: Bugs in Page title Fixed: Bugs in search and 404 page Fixed: Several minor bugs ==Version 1.0.0== December 6, 2013 First Release


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This article is more than 1 year old
iTunes swallowed a quarter of US music sales
World's largest retailer thumped
One in four songs sold in the US are done so via Apple's iTunes store, according to a new report.
NPD Group's MusicWatch division said today that while audio CDs remain the most popular format among music consumers, digital tracks notched up 35 per cent of all songs sold in the first half of 2009.
That's a 15 per cent leap in sales compared with 2007 figures, and a five per cent jump on last year's numbers.
NPD said that the iTunes store dominated digital music sales, accounting for 25 per cent of all songs sold in the US in the first six months of this year.
In 2008 it pulled in 21 per cent of all digital music sales, while in 2007 it grabbed 14 per cent of the market.
US retail giant Walmart takes second place in digital music sales, according to NPD. It raked in 14 per cent from downloads sold via its website as well as in store.
But iTunes outshines all other digital music retailers, where Apple leads the market by a hefty 69 per cent ahead of its rivals, said NPD.
Amazon's MP3 store lags a long way behind the iTunes behemoth, gobbling up just eight per cent of the digital music market.
NPD garnered its findings from US consumers aged 13 and above, who reported their purchases of CDs, digital music tracks and albums sold a-la-carte, and wireless over-the-air transactions, excluding ringtones.
It didn't reveal how many US folk took part in the survey, however. NPD also overlooked the impact illegal file sharing has on digital music sales. ®


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More than 33 million refugees and internally displaced people languish in the world today. A disproportionate percentage of them live in Africa. Most have been driven from their homes by armed strife. Such displacement is often overlooked in discussions of the duty to protect civilians in warfare. Killing civilians counts as a violation of the law of war, but uprooting millions of people from their homes is not often counted among war's injustices. The conditions in which forcibly displaced people are typically compelled to live, however, violate their basic human rights. One can ask whether these conditions are not nearly as bad as death itself.
Abebe Feyissa, an Ethiopian refugee, raised this question powerfully at a conference on advocacy for the rights of refugees recently sponsored in Nairobi, Kenya, by the Boston College Center for Human Rights and International Justice in cooperation with Catholic Relief Services and the Jesuit Refugee Service. After describing his experience in a refugee camp in Kenya during the past 15 years, Abebe poignantly concluded, "There is more than one way of dying."
A refugee camp is a dehumanizing place. The food provided by humanitarian agencies barely sustains life. Drinkable water is scarce and tightly rationed. Disease runs rampant and there is often no health care. Children, including those born in a camp, receive little or no education. The work refugees create for themselves within a camp provides only the barest beginnings of a livelihood.
Worst of all, displaced people are frequently restricted to camps for years, even decades. A camp is supposed to be a temporary refuge (the word "camp" does not even appear in the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention). But Abebe Feyissa cannot go home, because his life would be in danger in Ethiopia. Nor can he move to a Kenyan city, despite the convention's declaration that refugees have the right to choose their place of residence and to move freely in the country of asylum (Art. 26). This is because United Nations refugee authorities think camps are needed to care efficiently for large numbers of refugees. If people like Abebe come to the city, some fear, they will take jobs from indigenous citizens and add to the costs that already weigh heavily on a very poor country. Solid research, however, shows that refugees often make useful contributions rather than adding burdens. Still, only a few countries like South Africa permit refugees to settle in the cities.
Abebe spoke powerfully about the hopelessness and emptiness that fill the hearts of persons long confined to camps. Emotional disorientation, to the point of not knowing what day or what year it is, can turn into anger and violence. When men from traditional African societies are confined for years, they lose their roles as the providers and protectors of their wives and families. Their frustration may be heightened when displacement leads girls and women to depart from traditionally expected behavior. The resulting anger leads some men to strike out at the women closest to them.
Needed Changes
Neither current political practice nor existing international law adequately addresses the dehumanization refugees face. Rethinking politics and law from the standpoint of human dignity and human rights leads to several important conclusions about advocacy.
First, increasing respect for the refugees' right to freedom of movement is a key to alleviating their confinement in camps. To be sure, camps can be necessary in emergencies, but extended restriction seriously diminishes a person's human dignity. The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants calls it the "warehousing" of refugees. Freedom of movement is not a "contingent right" that can be abrogated indefinitely. Several norms ought to govern restriction to camps:
• People should be confined to camps only as a last resort, when necessary for their protection.
• Restriction to camps should be temporary and last only as long as is required to protect the displaced people.
• Harm should be proportionate. That is, the harm caused by limiting refugees' freedom of movement is justified only when it is proportionately less than the harm they would face outside camps and less than the harm-free movement that large numbers of refugees would cause to members of the host society.
These three criteria—necessity, temporariness and proportionality—are analogous to the criteria used to assess situations when armed force is morally legitimate to secure justice. The analogy is not accidental, for just as using force harms human beings, so does confining innocent people to camps for years or decades. The presumption should be against limiting free movement; overriding that presumption must always be justified.
Authorities need to develop effective ways to implement the 1951 Convention's insistence that refugees should have freedom of movement similar to that of other non-citizens who have entered a country. Governments could issue a kind of "green card," for instance, that identifies refugees as having the right to live, move about and work in the host country, at least until the causes of their exile have been alleviated.
Wealthy Nations Must Share the Burden
Second, richer countries of the developed world have a moral responsibility to help displaced peoples. In many domains of life, society recognizes that a responsibility to help people in serious need is proportional to one's capability to help. Someone who cannot swim is not expected to come to the aid of a drowning child, but a good swimmer has a duty to help if it can be done without undue risk. In Africa, many countries neighboring those that produce large numbers of refugees lack the capacity to protect the displaced. Nations with greater capacity to assist refugees bear a greater responsibility to do so. The responsibility to help Abebe Feyissa, for example, does not fall exclusively on Kenyans, even though he is living in Kenya. Citizens of developed countries share the duty, too.
Burden-sharing in response to refugees is often understood to imply that rich countries of the West would grant refugees asylum and eventually citizenship. The United States recently announced that it will open its doors to a number of Burundian refugees who have been held in Tanzanian camps since massacres drove them from home in 1972—some 34 years ago. Despite the recent peace agreement in Burundi, the refugees have little chance of returning to their original homes, because their land has been occupied by others. Because of the length of their exile, many are children of the original refugees; they have no land because they have never lived in Burundi. The United States is offering them resettlement.
Third, more privileged societies should share in addressing the causes and consequences of displacement. There are simply too many displaced people in the world for rich countries to address their plight adequately through asylum. The causes of their displacement need to be addressed directly. Some Burundian refugees in Tanzania, for example, arrived this year because of famine in their home country. Hunger and the fragility of the peace agreement in Burundi make many Burundian refugees in Tanzania fear going home. Since the right not to be forcibly repatriated is a fundamental refugee right, it is forbidden to compel them to return. The conditions that cause their fear of going home need to be alleviated, so the developed countries of Europe and North America ought to provide economic and development assistance within Burundi itself. Also, the definition of who counts as a refugee could be broadened to include not only those who flee violent persecution, but those forced from home by severe economic deprivation. Advocating such a definition reflects a human rights perspective on the plight of the displaced.
Building Peace
Fourth, protecting the rights of refugees calls for sustained efforts to build peace wherever conflict has killed many and driven even more people from their homes. Often this will require concerted regional action by neighboring states, supported by the more powerful countries of the developed world. Extremely poor Chad, for instance, cannot absorb all the refugees crossing its border from the Darfur region of neighboring Sudan. Nor is Chad capable of taking the political initiatives needed to stop the conflict causing the Darfur tragedy. Thus the responsibility to protect the refugees and to undertake serious peacemaking initiatives moves to the countries in eastern Africa and to the developed world.
A peacemaking initiative of this sort halted Sudan's other civil war between north and south. The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the government of Sudan in the north and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in the south was facilitated by the countries of eastern Africa who are part of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, with strong assistance from the United States and several European countries. The U.S.-appointed special ambassador John Danforth and Colin Powell, then secretary of state, made several direct interventions for peace. This 2005 peace agreement, like many in Africa, is fragile. But the shooting has mostly stopped, and some refugees have begun to go home. It shows that when powerful nations address the causes of conflict and refugee displacement, they can make a significant difference.
Internally Displaced Persons
Fifth, protecting the human rights of internally displaced persons (I.D.P.'s) calls for an organized response by neighboring countries, regional organizations and the United Nations. Internally displaced persons have been forced from their homes; but because they have not moved across an international border, they are not officially refugees as defined by the 1951 convention. Their plight is a major challenge in Africa today, where nearly half of the world's 20 million I.D.P.'s reside.
In theory, protecting the rights of such people is the responsibility of their governments. Yet it is often their own governments that have forced them to flee. Extreme cases, like the situation in Darfur, are grave violations of the 2005 U.N. World Summit's declaration that "each individual state has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity."
If national governments fail to protect their citizens from these crimes, or if they inflict these crimes themselves, the summit asserted that the international community has a duty to take action.
In the first instance, the international action should be preventive. Advocacy on behalf of the displaced should not wait until conflict and grave human rights violations have begun. Nor should it end when peace agreements have been signed. Despite the peace agreement regarding southern Sudan, the millions of displaced Sudanese there face serious obstacles to returning home. The obstacles can be addressed by actions that seek to heal their wounds and bring reconciliation to that divided society. Neighboring states, regional organizations and church agencies can play crucial roles in making such reconciliation a reality.
Where prevention fails, however, bodies like the African Union or the United Nations may have a duty to intervene to stop grave rights abuses (like genocide). As a last resort, Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter provides for military force. Moral responsibility crosses borders in ways that override state sovereignty. As Kofi Annan has said, the purpose of state sovereignty is "to protect individual human beings, not to protect those who abuse them."
Successful Initiatives
Commitment to the human rights of displaced people presents major challenges in international affairs today. Effective action can seem impossible; the call to be "realistic" could cause advocates to give up their efforts on behalf of refugees. Yet it is helpful to note two recent initiatives led by churches and other groups that have successfully pressed for change in international politics. The Jubilee 2000 Campaign urged international lending agencies to reduce or cancel heavy debts owed by some of the world's poorest countries. The campaign was energized by Pope John Paul II's support and that of the leaders of many other religious and secular communities. It led to significant policy changes by the World Bank, other international financial institutions and the treasuries of the United Kingdom and the United States. In a similar way, several conservative U.S. evangelical church bodies, in cooperation with secular human rights groups, lobbied the Bush administration to enter the peace process in southern Sudan, which led to some success. Both the Jubilee Campaign and the Sudan initiative show that citizen action can significantly influence world affairs.


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Technical / White Paper
Complimentary White paper on Comparing GFSI Recognised Standards
This document aims to provide an overview of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and what it means for an international food safety standard to be GFSI approved. It then goes on to discuss each of the GFSI approved schemes individually looking in detail at the key schemes which are offered by BRC, FSSC 22000, IFS Food, SQF Code, and Global G.A.P. For each of these, the requirements, benefits and certification processes are reviewed. It also includes a brief overview of alternative programmes that support small and medium sized businesses by providing a stepping-stone prior to full GFSI food safety certification.
Please fill out the form to get your complimentary copy.


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Last updated: March 22, 2012
Novel Gene Found Critical for Regeneration in Zebrafish
Novel Gene Found Critical for Regeneration in Zebrafish
Humans owe their senses of balance and hearing to microscopic vibration detectors called hair cells, which are located deep within the inner ear. These sensitive structures send messages to the brain that are interpreted as sound and spatial orientation. If hair cells are destroyed by disease or injury, humans suffer permanent hearing loss. But some of our fellow vertebrates are much more fortunate, with fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds all possessing the ability to regenerate damaged hair cells.
Now, as part of their ongoing effort to unlock the secrets of these amazing regenerative powers, National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) researchers have identified a gene that plays a crucial role in hair cell regeneration in zebrafish. They call the gene phoenix, a reference to the mythical firebird that after being consumed by flames, arises anew from the ashes.
A small species often found in aquariums, zebrafish offer many useful features for biological and genomic research. These fish reproduce at a rapid rate, share many of the same genes with humans, have transparent offspring, and can be genetically manipulated for research studies.
Published in the April 17 edition of the online journal PLoS Genetics, the NHGRI study found that when the phoenix gene is mutated, zebrafish lose their ability to regenerate hair cells in their lateral line. The lateral line is an organ related to our inner ear that runs along the sides of fish and amphibians, providing them with sensory signals that help them detect prey, avoid predators, find mates and swim in schools.
"It remains to be discovered whether mammals have a similar gene in their genome," said senior author Shawn Burgess, Ph.D., a senior investigator in NHGRI's Genome Technology Branch. "But it is very compelling to consider the implications of this research related to the possibility of restoring human hearing and balance through regeneration."
The researchers began their study by closely looking at a mutated strain of zebrafish. These fish do not have any obvious physical or behavioral defects, and, like other zebrafish, can regenerate many types of cells in response to injury. However, when the phoenix mutants are exposed to chemicals that destroy the hair cells that make up their lateral line, they cannot regenerate these particular cells like other zebrafish.
After characterizing the precise nature of the regeneration defects in phoenix mutants, the researchers identified the region of the genome harboring the phoenix mutation and then determined the specific gene carrying the defect — a gene they ultimately dubbed phoenix, or pho.
The researchers went on to locate versions of the pho gene in a number of other fish species. They have not yet identified any pho counterparts in other vertebrates. Dr. Burgess says this indicates the gene is evolving rapidly and likely has been greatly modified over time. He further emphasizes that mammals and other vertebrates may still have functionally similar proteins coded by genes or groups of genes that are closely related to pho.


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A popular location for trips is Zemská brána, a rocky section of ground right near the Divoká Orlice, a river which gouged out the romantic valley with rock formations here. The ruins of Potštejn and Litice castles are an inherent part of the region. It is certainly also worth visiting the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Neratov. A curiosity here is the glass roof and unusual north-south facing of the church, thanks to which rays of sunshine fall right on the sanctuary at precisely noon on Easter Sunday.
Hanička artillery fort hidden under the ground
Whilst wandering around the Orlické Mountains, you must not forget to visit Hanička Fort, which belonged to the system of pre-war fortifications in Czechoslovakia. The artillery fort, which now serves as a museum, was secretly converted into a nuclear bunker in the 1970s. Under the fortress, at a depth of 20 to 36 m below the surface, is an intricate network of corridors, shafts, a unique water treatment plant, ammunition warehouses, dining halls and barracks for the men. The tour ends on the combat level of the surface of the building, where you again reach the surface via 126 steps. The temperature under the ground is 5 – 8 degrees, so we recommend warm clothing and suitable footwear. You can also walk the six-kilometre nature trail which passes by the light military fortification buildings in the area around Olešnice.
Extensive collections of pictures and weapons in Opočno
The collection of historical monuments, which is part of the complex of Chateau Opočno, stands testament to the way of life here in ages past, the sophistication and thinking of Bohemian society. Opočno Chateau will astound you with its three stories of arcade loggia in a rectangular shape. You can admire the well-preserved historical interiors here, which hold extensive collections of pictures and weapons or have a walk in the naturally landscaped park which surrounds the chateau. If you would like to get to know crafts long forgotten, all you have to do is visit the Letohrad Craft Museum. Board games, building sets, tin soldiers or trains are hidden away in the Museum of Toys in Rychnov nad Kněžnou.
Where else to set out for?
If browsing historical gems would wear you out, set out for Hradec Králové with its dominant feature, the White Tower. You can visit the local observatory and planetarium, the botanical gardens, or get to know the Hučák hydroelectric power plant, the Art Nouveau building of which stands proudly on the River Elbe.


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Patented ergonomic design - curved wishbone shape to allow dogs to pop-up one end and get a satisfying chew going.
Deep grooves which allow pups to get a good bite, and increased surface area for improved scent and flavor.
Real ingredients and real flavor - made with super-strong nylon and 100% peanut butter for irresistible flavor and scent
Not recommended for dogs heavier than 30 pounds
Made in the usa
Benebone is a chew toy and is not to be eaten - retire before signs of breakage or significant wear.


text: The Arizona chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) has awarded Maricopa County Department of Transportation's (MCDOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Branch Manager Faisal Saleem with its Citation for Exemplary Service to Public Works. The award, part of the chapter's 2016 APWA Professional Awards, recognizes a public service leader who has made a positive impact on public works programs, services, or policies. For the last 16 years, Saleem has served as MCDOT's ITS Branch Manager where he has advocated for the advancement of traffic operations systems by implementing the latest technology including connected vehicle innovations. He has also been influential in the development of numerous regional programs to improve traffic operations. These programs include the AZTech Regional Information System, the Bell Road Adaptive Traffic Signal Control Technology Deployment Design, the Loop 101 Integrated Corridor Management Plan, the MCDOT SMARTDrive Program and the Anthem Connected Vehicle Test Bed. "What sets Faisal apart is his ability to build relationships and collaborate," said MCDOT Director Jennifer Toth. "It's hard to find anyone who doesn't appreciate him or want to work with him. And even though he could accomplish great things on his own, Faisal understands building relationships and establishing partnerships among jurisdictions will lead to sustainable improvements that will continue to serve Maricopa County for years to come." This is the first year the Arizona chapter of the APWA has awarded the Citation for Exemplary Service to Public Works, which is modeled after the national award by the same name.


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No, seriously. The Bermuda Triangle is fucking lame. Don't believe me? You're lame too. I have scientific evidence on my side. The Bermuda Triangle is a bunch of New Age horseshit, and may even be a pyramid scheme. Here's why.
The Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle is an imaginary area of ocean between Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Myanmar. The idea is that you draw lines between these islands and then inside the triangle there are Ghosts. Spooky!...if you're three years old. "Oh noes mommy!! Teh bad water is going to eat teh boats!!!" Grow up! The Bermuda Triangle is just a story made up by sailors, and here's a hint: sailors are drunk 95% of the time. These are the same people that came up with patent nonsense like mermaids and neap tides, and now you're letting them tell you that this one specific area of water shaped like a triangle is going to leap out like the alien does in that movie Alien and rip your face off? No way, because that alien was awesome and the Bermuda Triangle is definitely not awesome.
Hell, Lloyd's of London, the world's biggest largest insurance company, whose fucking job it is to know where ships will sink most often, says that the Bermuda Triangle is a piece of bullshit. They won't charge you extra to insure your boat if you tell them it's going through the Bermuda Triangle. And Jesus H. Christ, if an insurance company won't charge you higher premiums for doing something, then the odds are pretty strong that said activity is perfectly safe.
I've seen triangles in math class. Triangles are always small. There's no way you could even have a triangle hundreds of miles on a side because you couldn't find a piece of paper big enough.
Also, spheres are the natural enemy of triangles because one is rounded and three-dimensional and one is pointy and two-dimensional. The Earth is a sphere and thus would not permit a triangle on its surface. I learned that in math class, too.
And even given[1] that such a triangle could exist and given that it existed near Bermuda, why would you want to fill it with ghosts? I can think of much better uses for that triangle. Fill it with hoagies! Sure, yeah, we can have a Hoagie Triangle where instead of swallowing ships and planes it dispenses delicious piping-hot hoagies and grinders with chips on plates! That is where math applies to the real world, fuckers!
Note: The hoagie triangle is only available in Pennsylvania.
Shut the Fuck Up
Merciful meatballs, can we stop hearing about the Bermuda Triangle? How can you make 1.5 million square miles of salt water interesting? You can't! Let's face it, if David Copperfield has been there, it's not cool. Yes, that goes for the Statue of Liberty too.
Other hack jobs from pop culture include:
- Bermuda Triangle
- The Bermuda Triangle, a completely different movie we swear!!
- Somebody trying to cash in with a book SAY IT AIN'T SO!
Stephen King wrote a book on this? And it's not even one of his comedic ones? Fuck me in the Ozarks!
I hope nobody actually buys this shit.
STOP PRESS: On December 21 2005 the Bermuda Triangle mysteriously disappeared, as if it had never existed. Scientists are baffled as to what it disappeared into, although one was quoted as saying "I'll give you one guess. And don't quote me on that or I'll sue." Oops...
Ever since said disappearance, the government has advised people to refrain from publicly trying to insult the Bermuda Triangle. It is George W. Bush's opinion that the Bermuda Triangle has assumed a physical manifestation and has been hunting down people all across the world with what marine-bio-mathematicians and Brendan Benson have described as "one big ass mother fuck'n hand, I swear that thing is evil!" The entirety of the U.S. army has been summoned to fight this monstrosity and until then the whole world is advised to keep their eyes peeled for malevolent geometric figures. Look out behind you!
Edit 03/10/06: The Discovery Channel ran a feature on the Triangle. Come to find out, the "mystery" is that methane is causing the ships to sink, and not telekinetic guppies with superiority issues, or whatever crap the new-agers are spewing these days. That's right folks... methane. WHALE FARTS are what is sinking all of those ships! Perhaps it's payback for the whaling in the past? If so, they are pretty stupid, seeing as the only whalers nowadays are Japanese. Last time I checked, Japan isn't in the fucking Atlantic. In conclusion, the Bermuda Triangle is only good for breeding stupid, gassy whales. This ends our tale from "Teh Ghey Planet"
- ↑ "Given" is a term used in mathematical proofs as a shorthand for "this shit is probably not true, but we assume it so that we're correct".
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Cream of the Crap This article was one of the Top 10 articles of 2005 (ish).


text: About Shaw UniversityCelebrating Excellence Since 1865Shaw University, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, is the first historically black institution of higher education in the South and among the oldest in the nation. Founded in 1865 by Henry Martin Tupper, our mission is to advance knowledge, facilitate student learning and achievement, to enhance the spiritual and ethical values of its students, and to transform a diverse community of learners into future global leaders. We offer numerous undergraduate degree programs leading to the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, or Bachelor of Social Work. In addition, graduate level degrees are also offered leading to the Master of Divinity, the Master of Arts in Christian Education and the Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction - Early Childhood Education. Our accredited programs include kinesiotherapy, social work, divinity and teacher education. Our students represent over 30 states and numerous foreign countries. The small 17 to 1 student to teacher ratio provides an environment conducive to learning that helps promote student development and achievement. For over 150 years, we have produced outstanding professionals who have contributed to the advancement of society. Our graduates include college presidents, academic vice presidents, judges, lawyers, recording artists, school principals, pastors, and other notable persons. In addition, the founder of North Carolina Central University and the first presidents of Elizabeth City State and North Carolina A&T Universities were all Shaw graduates. The third president of Fayetteville State University was also a Shaw graduate.


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Night owl
What's the meaning of the phrase 'Night owl'?
A person who is active late at night.
What's the origin of the phrase 'Night owl'?
'Nightowl' was originally just a synonym for 'owl' and has been used as such since at least 1581, when Bell and Foxe included it it their translated work Against Jerome Osorius. That seems rather tautological as owls are predominantly nocturnal and, in an apparent general acceptance of that view, the literal use of the word is now rather rare.
The figurative use of the term, that is, as a reference to people rather than owls, also began in the 16th century. Shakespeare used it in 1594 in the narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece:
This said, his guilty hand pluck'd up the latch,
And with his knee the door he opens wide.
The dove sleeps fast that this night-owl will catch:
Thus treason works ere traitors be espied.
The Bard didn't give up on the literal usage though. It appears, in contexts which make the literal reference to a bird clear, in both Richard II, 1593:
"For nightowles shreeke, where mounting larkes should sing."
and in Twelfth Night, 1602:
"Shall wee rowze the night-Owle in a Catch?"


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HICKORY GROUND – International – When Andrew Jackson's illegal and heavily censured actions during the First Seminole War in 1817 were used two years ago to support a controversial provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that allows the indefinite detention without charge or trial of anyone suspected of "terrorism,"Native Americans were alarmed that the federal government could use the legislation against them for asserting their right to self-determination, sovereignty and the protection of their lands and resources against exploitation by governments or corporations. They never imagined that a tribal government would do the same.
Hickory Ground a Sacred Site
But now Wayland Gray, a Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen, has been arrested by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians at the Muscogee sacred site at Hickory Ground in Wetumpka, Alabama, which is currently owned by the Poarch Band, and charged with an alleged "terrorist theat." The Poarch authorities have not revealed the details of the charges.
Gray was arrested on Friday, February 15, along with Mike Harjo and Michael Deo, also Muscogee Creeks from Oklahoma, and a man who identified himself as a Cherokee Indian named Maggot, according to Native News Network. They were arrested for attempting for the second day to go to the Hickory Ground burial site and pray for the Muscogee Creek ancestors who are buried there. Gray, Harjo and Deo are members of the Hickory Ground Tribal Town; Maggot is a member of the Alabama American Indian Movement, according to Native News Network. The attempted prayer ceremony is part of a large movement of opposition against the Poarch Band's excavation of at least 57 sets of human remains and construction of a casino on the sacred site.
The four men were arrested for trespassing, handcuffed and taken to the Elmore County Jail in Wetumpka, Alabama. Harjo, Deo and Maggot were soon released on bonds of around $450 each, according to Muscogee Nation attorney Brendan Ludwick. Gray was given the additional "terrorist threat" charge, assigned a $30,000 cash bail, and kept in jail, Ludwick said.
In an exclusive phone interview with Indian Country Today Media Network from the Elmore County Jail, Gray said the Poarch Band has trumped up the terrorist charge against him. "We went to our graveyard to honor our ancestors and we were arrested and they put a bogus charge on me," Gray said. "When I was getting into the [police] car I told them that one day we will be back and we'll be able to honor our ancestors when this place [the casino] is torn down."
Gray said his comment about the casino being "torn down" referred to a federal lawsuit filed by the Muscogee Nation against the Poarch Band last December. The lawsuit asks the court for a preliminary and permanent injunction to stop the casino construction from going forward, citing the removal of the 57 sets of ancestral remains as a violation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and other federal laws. The lawsuit also asks the court for a declaration of Muscogee rights to Hickory Ground under the laws of the United States.
Gray said the Poarch officials twisted what he said about the casino being torn down. "They tried to say that I said I would burn it down. Why would I say that when I'm sitting out there on video?" Gray asked. The Poarch Band made a video of the arrest, but hasn't released it, Gray said. "I challenge the Poarch Band to release that video but they haven't because it would prove that's not what I said. I doubt they'll release it because they don't work that way." One of the Elmore County Jail police and the sheriff are Poarch Band members, Gray said.
Gray said—and Deo confirmed on a Save Hickory Ground Facebook post—that the four men were not read their Miranda rights.
"I wasn't read my rights, never at any time," Gray said. "When I got into the car I asked what I was being charged with and they said trespassing and when I got to jail, two hours later the Poarch Band cops came walking in and told me I was being charged with a terrorist threat."
The "terrorist threat" charge is a felony. "This is a very serious charge," Ludwick said. "But publicly, they're not saying what he said, they're just saying he made a threat, but we're sure he never said anything about burning down the place and the other guys who were there confirmed that."
Ludwick noted that Monday is a holiday and by arresting Gray on a Friday Poarch could "pretty much assure he'd be in there for a three-day weekend. The Poarch Band is very influential in Wetumpka, Ludwick said.
"They have control over the law enforcement and the local judiciary. This is a small town and almost the whole town is on the Poarch payroll." Ludwick said the terrorist charge is a violation of Gray's First Amendment right of free speech and an attempt to silence him, because he has led the opposition to the desecration of Hickory Ground. "He's like a political prisoner," Ludwick said.
Poarch spokeswoman Sharon Delmar did not respond to an email asking for details about Gray's alleged "terrorist threat" and whether Poarch intends to release the video. According to Native News Network, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians issued a statement late Friday, saying,"The individuals were advised to leave. These individuals made threatening comments and were repeatedly warned that they were trespassing and facing imminent arrest. These individuals continued to challenge tribal police and were arrested."Neither Muscogee Nation Chief George Tiger nor Poarch Tribal Chairman Buford L. Rolin could be reached for comment on Sunday.
Hickory Ground is a historic Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Town that includes a ceremonial ground, a tribal burial ground and individual graves. It was the Muscogee Nation Creeks' last capitol before the tribe was ethnically cleansed and removed to Oklahoma on the Trial of Tears following Andrew Jackson's1830 Indian Removal Act. The Poarch remained in Alabama and cooperated with the Americans.
The Poarch Band's traditional home territory is in the area of Atmore, Alabama, more than 135 miles southwest of Wetumpka. Poach acquired the traditional Muscogee Hickory Ground site almost by fluke. Although the Poarch Band was not federally acknowledged until 1984, the Alabama Historical Commission received a copy65,000 grant from the Interior Department in 1980 to purchase Hickory Ground then transferred it to the Poarch Band. The Muscogee Nation did not object to the transfer at the time because Poarch promised to prevent development. Poarch acknowledged at the time that Hickory Ground is the ancestral home of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and claimed that "they will be pleased to know their home in Alabama is being preserved… The Hickory Ground site will continue to enhance their understanding of their history, without excavation." But shortly after the Interior Department took Hickory Ground into trust in 1984, the Poarch Band unveiled plans to develop a gaming facility there. The Muscogee Nation has been fighting the desecration of their sacred site ever since.
Gray thinks he was targeted for arrest "because of my stance against the desecration. I don't want to say because of my leadership because my leader is my chief [Muscogee Mekko George Thompson, who has served as a traditional Chief of the Oce Vpofa Muscogee Creeks in Oklahoma for 42 years], but I've probably said more than a lot of people."
Opposition to the Poarch casino on Hickory Ground is considerable. Last October, the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes voted unanimously on a resolution supporting the efforts "of the lineal descendants of Ocevpofv (Hickory Ground) Ceremonial Ground/Tribal Town to halt the desecration and all future desecrations of Ocevpofv located in Wetumpka, Alabama, as should be afforded protection under Federal Laws." The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes represents the united tribal governments of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole Nations and more than 750,000 blood descendants of aboriginal peoples from the southeastern United States. The sharply-worded resolution says the Poarch Band has excavated more than 60 human remains and associated funerary objects, including the remains of seven Mekkos (Chiefs) that were buried in the arbors of the original ceremonial ground.
The arrests of Gray and the other men have provoked a fierce outcry on the Facebook pages Save Hickory Ground and Hickory Ground War. JoKay Dowell, of Quapaw, Cherokee, Peoria, Eastern Shawnee and Irish descent, posted the following on the Poarch page: "Your group's federal recognition was a sad day for American Indians. Your behavior of playing Indian (yes I've seen your powwows atop a mound) is repulsive. Having the DNA of the original peoples of this land is not enough to call yourselves one of 'The People.' Through the Bible and Christianity, you have been so far-removed from what it means to be Indigenous: Respect for your ancestors and ancestral life ways, instruction from the Creator on how to live, respect for the way you walk in this world, love for your one true mother whose name in English in EARTH. . . You have been respectfully requested to do the right thing by the 'real' TRADITIONAL Muscogee culture-bearers who know who they are—the real descendants OF THE ANCESTORS YOU HAVE DISRESPECTED…and you had them thrown in jail? You will suffer the consequences. Creator has a way of taking care of these things, ALL IN HIS TIME." The post was quickly removed, Dowell said.
Gray said he has no idea when he'll be released. He is confined in a cell with 20 other people and conditions are "not good," he said. But there are lessons to be learned from his arrest. "I think it's pretty sad that back in 1832 Andrew Jackson removed us from that land at gunpoint and here we are in 2013 and the tribe that calls itself our 'cousins' had me at gunpoint or taser point and arrested me for coming back on the land." He promised to return and continue the struggle against the desecration of Hickory Ground.
"The lesson to be learned, for one thing, is never surrender, never give up your sacred sites and your burials regardless if it means going to jail. We've got to stand up for our rights, Idle No More. It's a sad day in Indian country when a tribe does this to its own people for greed. When the Poarch got federal recognition, they pretty much just got a country club card. They lost their ways, they don't care about their culture or their traditions—they're just all about money."
On Sunday afternoon, Gray's supporters set up a "Free Wayland Gray" legal defense fund for him at Indiegogo.com.
In addition, Eli Grayson, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, has set up an online petition asking the Interior Department to terminate its relationship with the Poarch Band. "In 1984, the Poarch was granted federal recognition under false information which has directly harmed the interest of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and its citizens," the petition says. "The Poarch removed the remains of a Creek sacred burial place know as Hickory Ground and replaced them with an entertainment venue and casino instead [of] protecting the place from development as promised. The history that the Poarch provided to the federal government is in direct conflict with written history and the truth as to who they are. Their federal recognition is a fraud not only against the citizens of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation but also against the citizens of the state of Alabama. Their recognition was about monetary gain and not tribal traditions as [evidenced by] the blatant removal of Indian graves for casino developments."
Read more a thttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/02/18/muscogee-man-held-terrorist-threat-charge-attempted-prayer-hickory-ground-147732